Getting Ready for Santa Monica

I’m working under the hood of this blog tonight, preparing for next week’s trip to Santa Monica to cover the Amazon press conference on September 6 at 10:30 a.m. PT.

I have installed the Live Blogging plug-in to enable me to liveblog the event in micro-bursts of text as it unfolds minute by minute. I’m not sure yet if liveblogging is the best use of my time, as opposed to following along the presentation with my LiveScribe notepad and recording pen, the better to craft a longform account of the event that afternoon. If you are a follower of The Kindle Chronicles and would like to weigh in on how I can best provide you information you can use, please leave a comment.

I have also installed the Share Buttons plug-in that should enable you to share posts to your favorite social media platforms, and email them to friends and family who might want to begin following the podcast and blog.

A week from tonight I will be settling into the Shore Hotel, getting ready for show time!

Robert, that’s not a bad idea. I could pay close attention during the presentation, gathering details for a longform piece, or several. Plus break away for a few timely tweets. I know from my newspaper days that the more you can actually see and hear at an event, and jot down for future reference, the richer the account of it you can write. Thanks for the feedback!

Len, I would love whatever you do, but I also would most value the long form follow up. You have a gift for thoughtful analysis. Id love to know what your thoughts and impressions were. This is unique to you alone. There will be several options for live blogging which makes it more of a commodity experience. Why not do what you do best? My guess is that there will be quite a few checking out your blog in the hours after the presentation to see what you think. Blessings, Mark

Hi Len,
I’m sure I’d be happy with whatever you decide. Although I have been known to watch liveblogs in the past, I really enjoy your detailed accounts and experiences so I think I would prefer the longform account as well.
Can’t wait!

Another vote here for you to concentrate on the presentation and then to let us have a considered response. Lots of other people will be live blogging the basic facts afterall. Hope we might get another Kindle single from you too at some point.

Long form, definitely. The thrill of real-time reporting is surely here to stay and useful, but is short lived. As an emergent tool, though, go ahead to experiement with it. It’d be great if TKC supported a banner system for short remarks/SMS observations that appended themselves as you dispatched them.

I also urge you to provide a more detailed long-form analysis. It does not require expertise in the product line to provide a “play by play” account of what is being presented. I will turn to someplace like Engadget for that, since they have a lot of experience with that mode of reporting.

You have a perspective to offer that other sites cannot duplicate. I come here to get a more detailed analysis from someone who knows and loves the e-reading public, products, and industry. That kind of reporting cannot be done well live, but is worth waiting for.

Thanks, everyone, for this great feedback. I am grateful for your encouragement and confirmation of my approach to the topic of Kindle and eBooks. There comes a time each Thursday or Friday when the ball just seems almost too heavy to push up the hill again – not a big deal, just part of the process of creation. Reading comments like these certainly motivates me to keep at it, and to improve the value of what I’m putting out there. Thank you!